Swelling and radiation creep of austenitic corrosion-resistant steel irradiated by neutrons in wide dose and temperature ranges

The results of a study of the swelling and in-reactor creep of EI-847, EP-172, and ChS-68 austenitic steel after irradiation in materials science assemblies in the range 330–700°C and damaging dose 20–96 dpa are presented. The temperature dependences of the volume change of steel were obtained from measurements of the diameter of unloaded ampuls. It is shown that the swelling of the steel increases linearly with increasing tangential stress. The modulus of in-reactor creep in the interval 410–630°C for the steel investigated in the cold-deformed state varies in the range (0.5–3)·10–6 MPa–1·dpa–1. For lower and higher temperatures, the creep modulus increases to (5–8)·10–6 MPa–1·dpa–1.